How much it will cost to develop Messaging App like WhatsApp

A whooping 25.2 trillion text messages will have been sent by end of this year. Isn’t this a startling number by any standards? This figure has fuelled a need to develop a messaging app. Even though you see big players in the market such as Viber, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger nevertheless the need for novelty is insatiable. So, if you desire to have a taste of success in this realm, try your hands on building an app like WhatsApp. WhatsApp has a massive audience which exchanges a huge 30 billion messages each day.

Work on a great idea and place the same in hands of a reliable development team. With efficient marketing strategy you won’t even know which realms of success you will touch.

Costs involved in developing an app like WhatsApp

The costs depend on wide array of factors. An approximate idea is anywhere between $20-30K and this encompasses the following features.

Registration as well as address book information

When a user enters an app for the very first times, he has to sign in. Signing in by entering your present phone number is easiest. SMS confirmation code is used in WhatsApp, for security factors.

Then you need to add the contacts from address book. The more number of friends a user has on his messaging app, chances becomes bright that he or she will use it. Also add Facebook profile or any other social networks as per the type and aim of your app. Because of this step app development cost will rise but then it is worth the money spent as it will ensure maximum usability of your mobile app.

Message exchange

This feature is more complex than what it appears. Even though the main purpose of a messaging app is to send messages between the users, it even has to keep record of conversation history so that users have access to the same in case they log from a different device. With WhatsApp messages are not stored on its server. This simplifies things hugely.

Now the user always wants something extra. With Snapchat messages stay only for a day and its custom stickers are totally a rage.

As a matter of fact custom stickers and smileys are now an inevitable part of digital dialog and this offers to you an additional opportunity to earn more money. Let the users make their own stickers. This will lead to enhanced engagement of your app, and this is what you actually aim to achieve.

Also include feature of group chat. People will be able to chat with their friends and as a result more and more people will be invited to your app. This feature will escalate your messaging app development cost but the overall returns will justify the same.

Notifications

This is a very important feature as it informs the users when a new message comes in. Notifications are a vital feature in a messaging app and should be taken in account while estimating cost of developing mobile app.

Multimedia file transmission

The users these days also desire feature of swaping their photos, memes, gifs and any kind of photo, audio, and video content. The user should also be able to send across pictures, video and audio files

The app should offer synchronization with cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote etc. These features necessitate spending of additional time and money

Also, you can think of implementing indoor geolocation technologies into your app. iBeacon and Eddystone sensors can catch your users when they are passing by and send them messages. This technology is very popular among retailers now. Think about the possibility of brand chatting with the customer in your app!

Other messaging app features

Of course, this was an incomplete list of possible features. I dare to assume that this can go on forever, and the only limit is time and budget.

Here are some more features to think of:

Event planning and calendar synchronization

Encrypted chats

Self-destructing messages

Confirmations and redeliver

App analytics

In-app purchases and subscriptions

Multiplatform chatting

Audio and video streaming

Video chats

So, bear all these costs on mind and you will be able to build up a messaging app akin to WhatsApp. It is a simple formula, the better the features the higher the costs involved.